Even a stray has pride

Part II – Affliction

Chapter 11 : The Imperial Capital

The Fall of the Black Rose (alternative title – readers' choice)

Imperial City of Archades, 687 (o. V.)

The Mallicant had brought us to the gates of Archades, the capital that meant everything and nothing to me at the same time. Lush nature had given place to hollow caves and pervasive mist. Book, the chocobo, was following the creature, without a pause, without a glimpse of hesitation.

Mother was still unconscious in front of me, and I had myself become faint with hunger, cold and exhaustion, slowly graying out. How many hours did the trip last? One? Ten? More? I had lost all sense of time, and could only distinguish, far away in a clouded distance, the sweep of Archadian skyscrapers and crowded traffic.

'Where are we?'

'Mother!'

I wanted to hug her, I stretched my left arm towards her and she grabbed my hand languidly.

'Please hold firmly onto Book!' I screamed. 'We are on the way to… to…'

'To Archades.'

Mother clutched at Book's reins as I finally pulled back my right arm, which was holding her, towards me. I glanced at my hand: it was all red.

Suddenly, Mallicant stopped. We were in the midst of a sullen neighborhood, crowded with young people in tatters and filled with a whiff of cold ashes and excretion that soon made me nauseous.

'You, there! This is Archadian territory. No passage allowed for the outcast !'

An Imperial soldier was standing in front of the two beasts, barring us from entering a straight and empty path that lead to the skyscrapers.

'Especially not for chocobos', said another, emerging from a corner.

I was starting to panic.

'Mother! What do we do? The viera told me that this horse knew the path to the capital!'

'Then we shall trust this horse', she said as calmly as if we were in our house and Landis was in peace.

I mumbled in anger, completely powerless as the two imperials were approaching, with their spears ready to harm. In the meantime, Book was visibly panting, as if all the effort he had put to cross the border was showing up all of a sudden. But the voyage was not over…

'Hey! No! No horses allowed in Archades!'

At my great surprise, Mallicant let out a terrorizing neigh in the clammy weather of that Aries month, as the soldiers recoiled, completely astounded, before being violently shoved aside by the green fiend's tentacles.

'Now is our chance! Book!'

Mallicant immediately took off at full pelt in the empty road, but the chocobo was motionless.

With a coarse moan, one of the soldiers was standing up and searching for his weapon.

'Please… Book!'

But the chocobo kept still. As the soldier was approaching again, I took my decision.

'Move! Follow her!' I ordered, hitting the chocobo with both feet on his flanks. Little did I know that it was the first of a long series of acts I would regret later. But at that moment, I had no choice.

Book slipped away precisely at the moment both imperials were raising their spears.

'Good! Don't stop!'

Plodding left and right before managing to move forward, the chocobo eventually reached Mallicant's level as the horse was entering the city, leaving the soldiers' protests behind.

'We… We're finally here.'

'Yes… Mother.'

The giant buildings overlooked the large avenues and extravagant squares. In the background, a big arch stood in the center, just under the trail of the famous Sky Train, linking the capital with the industrial provinces of the Empire.

'Hey! Mallicant!'

But the horse didn't seem to slow down ; at full speed, she overtook several groups of rich-looking people – screaming with terror – before disappearing into the bright alleys of the city.

'To Rienna!' said Mother.

'To Rienna?' I repeated.

'Aye… Near the aerodrome…' she added, in a panting voice.

'Mother!'

But she turned to me with a faint smile. I understood and forced Book to turn left.

'Aaaaah! Mama! A chocobo!'

'What on Ivalice is a chocobo doing in our city?'

'What are the Judges doing?'

The rich-looking people were everywhere, gathering around us at a safe distance, and chatting ceaselessly.

'Where is Rienna located?'

The conversations suddenly stopped. No one was answering my question.

'By the gods, have you heard his accent?'

'Certainly a low-mannered beggar from the inlands!'

'I want to know the way to Rienna! The aerodrome!' I repeated, as loud as I could, as Mother was lowering her head, looking as frail as ever.

'The aerodrome is located straight ahead, and then on your left, but…' said a man with a hat.

I did not need more words. Hitting the chocobo's side once more, we forced the onlookers to move aside as we departed to the shown direction. Indeed, the busy building was standing there, with the airships' noisy flows and ebbs and the rubbernecks' constant lingering.

'This building!' Mother said, pointing at an old construction in the street.

'What shall we do?' I asked, my heart still filled with irrepressible panic and doubts.

'Ask… for… Thembeka… Third… fl…'

'That's enough, Mother. I will take charge of things.'

Take charge of what? I was as bewildered as ever and I had no idea what to do in that dismal town. Thembeka? That had to be the name of someone. Was she in the building? Then I had to enter.

I dismounted Book and quickly found a small hidden area that looked like a lumber room, at the building's entrance. There, I attached the chocobo to a pole, took the bags in one hand and passed my other arm under my mother's shoulder.

'Can you walk?'

'Aye… Thembeka… Please…'

We entered the building's hall, which surprisingly had a good smell. After the ultimate difficulty of climbing the three floors, I found two doors and was about to knock on the one on the right.

'Left… door…' Mother said, briefly pulling my shirt behind my neck.

I nodded and knocked. The seconds separating us from the answer lasted an eternity.

'Who's there?'

My mother hawked and uttered loudly – almost proudly: 'Linda. Linda Gabranth!'

The door immediately opened to a plump woman, visibly in her fifties.

'Lin… No… That cannot be…'

Mother was about to answer but a dreadful cough came out of her mouth instead.

'Please let us in', I said. 'My mother is sick.'

'Your…'

Thembeka took a serious face and helped me carry the bags, and Mother, inside.

'I am alone today', she explained as she helped my mother lie down on a rudimentary, but comfortable-looking sofa.

'Linda? Linda Gabranth? Is it really you?' she asked, turning her back to me, my mother's head between her chubby hands.

Mother nodded, as the woman was visibly recognizing the blond hair and witty eyes.

'I have heard of what happened in Landis. But to see you here… alive! Oh I am so relieved… Gods know what could have happened to you since you left your family! Yes, I am relieved to see you here. And with a son!' Thembeka added, finally noticing my existence. 'What's your name?'

And without warning, my mother stood up, as if she had never been sick, grabbed hold of Thembeka's collar, and pushed her to the wall, saying the torturing words I would never forget:

'My son is Gabranth. Gabranth, you hear! He shall have no other name. And his only nationality is Archadian. He is from House Gabranth, who lived on the fourth floor of this Rienna building eighteen years ago. Is that clear, Thembeka?'

Why? Why, Mother?

'Y… Yes! Please calm down, Lindiwe.'

Thembeka slowly regained control of the situation as Mother stepped back, coughing again.

'I am happy to meet you… Gabranth.'

I nodded, unable to speak, unable to think after what Mother had said. What about her pride to be a Landisite? Where was Linda fon Ronsenburg, the blithe farmer at Uwielbinie Village and friend to everyone – the one who was so happy in Landis with her two sons that she never wanted to leave?

Without answers, I had to help Thembeka arrange the fourth-floor apartment, opened with the key my mother had put in one of the bags. It was a small place with two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. One of the rooms had a bed – we helped Mother take place there, and Thembeka brought food for us as well as a sack of money.

'There is enough gil for you to survive the next days', she said. 'I will speak to my husband tonight and let him know of the situation so we can give you more, shall you need it.'

I thanked her and we became alone, Mother and I, in the almost bare fourth-floor apartment of an old Rienna building.

It took me days to get used to living in Archades – and I still could not believe it. How could we pretend to live normally in a rich-people's place, hidden in a corner of Ivalice, while all my friends and my whole country had died in silence? I did not dare to ask Mother about any of my doubts, as her health did not improve the next days. I found an item shop that sold potions and Gysahl greens, which I gave to Mother and Book respectively. Whenever I was outside, people were looking at me in a peculiar way, as if it was written on my forehead that I was from Landis. I bought local clothes to try to diminish the effect, but I could still feel eyes on me everywhere.

I took great precaution in managing the money – the very first time I had to. In addition to food supplies and items from the shop, the clothes were the only deviation I did – including some I bought for Mother. My mother's health was declining with every day passing, but she refused to see a doctor – frightened at the idea that someone could discover where we were from. I thought of getting a job in the city, but her answer was the same:

'You are not fit for a job, my son. Not here. Not now.'

Her words threw pikes in my heart. That time was visibly the last time I could endure it.

'But we cannot rely on Thembeka's money forever! There is certainly something I can do in Archades. I'll find a way to earn much gil, you'll see it soon! Why don't you trust me?'

'I trust you, my son, but it is too dangerous to find a living in this merciless capital. We shall speak of this matter later.'

'Later, later… But it is now that I'm suffering! You never listen to me and my feelings!'

And I slammed the door, boiling with frustration, lost in doubt.

I walked straight until I left the neighborhood where we were living, Rienna, to enter Nilbasse. There, after a few shops and mean looks here and there, I found a quiet square where I often thought I should stop. I sat on one of the steps at the edge and let out a big sigh. I wished I had other landscapes to look at than the never-ending squabbles of the petty Archadians parading their garments, jewelry, makeup or gadgets. Some of them were taking a peep at me, especially the younger ones walking with implacable-looking parents, but I could not care less. The hell with the Archadians and their insentient life! That world of false shine and pretense was not for me. I would never become their kin. My own mother, the one I thought I could trust forever, had betrayed me and come back to her old citizenship, the one she said she forsook when she eloped with my father… The one that killed our friends and stripped everything away from us. Why? Why!?

'You are asking too many questions, young Hume.'

I shivered and turned toward the voice that pronounced those words. Leaning on the front of a milliner's shop, the tall figure of a woman with claws and rabbit ears was observing me with a grin.

'The… the viera! You were in Landis!'

I immediately regretted my words. What if she was not the same one? Ivalice was huge, and there were certainly more than one viera in the Empire. But that face… those eyes… that assertiveness in the tone of her voice… it had to be her!

'I am her', she said, slowly approaching.

She sat next to me as more people were crossing the square, their eyes open wide at the sight of a viera in their capital.

'I see you made it safely to Archades', she said. 'Mallicant has done a wonderful job.'

I ignored her and turned the other way.

'There were others like you in Uwiel', she added. 'I tried, but I could not save them all… the ones who survived chose to stay there.'

'I would have stayed too!' I screamed. 'I wanted to stay and do something for the land where I was born and grew up! I… I would have helped the other villagers and we would…'

'You would be dead', the viera interrupted. 'Both your mother and yourself. War is unforgiving and my colleagues show no quarter. You have told some of them that you were from the Gabranth family, but it is not well known around here. Its members have somehow fallen and had to leave Archades for the industrial regions.'

'I don't care about the members of my family. I only have my mother left.'

And Basch. But I had enough to deal with in Archades to think about the hole he left in me at that moment. One word that the viera said stroke me like a thunderbolt.

'Your colleagues?' I repeated. 'You said that the soldiers are your colleagues? Why do you seem to have a high consideration for murderers? Didn't you see what they did in my village? Didn't you see how they consider other people? Why did you join their ranks in the first place?'

'The soldiers you saw weren't the only ones that committed murders in Landis. The Mighty Four – and the TM's in particular – sent their own squads to settle scores there. I personally joined the Imperial Army because it was the best cover for my… observation activities. And after arriving in the Empire, I needed to protect myself. Just like you. Am I wrong?'

I gritted my teeth with rage and clenched my fists.

'You need a stable situation to protect yourself, and protect your mother. Am I wrong?' she repeated.

What was she saying this for? What was the meaning of all this? Taking my silence for approbation, she continued:

'Then come to the army. You will find your place there.'

'I will never join the likes of you!'

I had shouted, standing in front of the viera and giving her my most ominous look. Some people gathered around us, and glanced at each other in confusion.

'Keep on like this and you'll get yourself in trouble', the viera said, always with her calm soothing voice.

Recollecting my senses, I browsed the curious faces in front of me, realizing she was right. I bowed quickly, apologized to the crowd, and went to sit a few paces further, on the other side of the square steps. Thankfully, the Archadians began to scatter.

'Is that your answer?' the viera said, joining me once again.

'I have no interest in joining the army', I replied firmly. 'And even if I did, I am not a fighter. I don't know how to hold a sword, unlike Ba… unlike others. And even if I knew… I'm only seventeen years old. The Imperial Army does not accept, under any circumstance, applicants under the age of eighteen. I have heard that Judge Bergan takes this rule very seriously.'

Upon hearing that name, the viera closed her eyes and smiled until her canines were visible.

'You are well informed', she said, visibly amused. 'Judge Bergan doesn't listen to many people, but he will listen to me if I have a request to make. The army pays well and joining at this moment would not be a big risk. Everything can be arranged in due time. Do not let details deter you from this goal.'

'It is not my goal!' I objected. 'I repeat that I have absolutely no wish to be a… an Archadian soldier!'

She smiled again and opened her eyes, showing golden pupils.

'As you wish. But should you change your mind, then go to the Military Imperial Akademy, located straight on the other side of the Glorious Road. Ask for the viera. Everyone knows me there.'

And upon these words, she stood up, her more than two meters overlooking all the civilians.

'Let us see that chocobo.'

'Book…?'

What business did she have with the chocobo?

'Your neighbors have complained about it – certainly because of the smell. A patrol is scheduled to come and kill it tomorrow. Lead me to your building and I will take it to the place I just mentioned. It shall stay there with Mallicant and the other beasts.'

'Book is our chocobo! He cannot leave the…'

But once again, she was right. What would a chocobo in Archades be useful for, apart from scaring the passers-by? And what about the soldiers that wanted to kill it? But was it safe to show this viera where we lived? Mother would certainly not approve of this. However, did I have a choice?

I walked back to Rienna, with the viera on my side. I showed her the place where Book was – she looked startled but swiftly handled the creature as if she had been living with chocobos all her life. I looked at him – maybe for the last time – as she left the building and put a foot in the street.

'Don't forget my proposal', she said, turning to me one last time.

'What makes you think I will trust you?' I replied dimly.

'Because you already trusted me to help you find your way to the capital. Mallicant is not my horse – the Mistress would be very upset to know I used her for this purpose. It was risky but worth it. And it shall be the same for your career in the army.'

Seeing my lack of reaction, she turned away and was about to leave.

'What's your name?' I asked, before I could control my mouth.

Without looking at me, the viera smiled and replied:

'She used to call me "Cal"'.